Red and black
by KageNoYoko
Summary: nine years ago little Ruby met a girl after being separated from her older sister. now at 15, she meets this mysterious person again, though she isn't entirely aware of who it is. Two part short story. Please remember that reviews are appreciated, and help me further improve.
1. Chapter 1

A Long time ago

She was lost, hopelessly, absolutely undoubtedly lost, and had no idea what to do, as her big sister was nowhere to be seen.

She had been out with her big sis for the entire day, much to their matron's chagrin, as the older girl talked animatedly about all the good they would do when they became huntresses, about how they'd save damsels, rescue villages, defeat monsters, and become famous. She loved the older girl's stories, they always had happy endings, and helped to keep her motivated to become a huntress, because it sounded so romantic.

But now her big sis was missing, had wandered off when Ruby was distracted by a very pretty bed of roses, and now the six year old was standing alone in an unknown park, tears welling up in her eyes as she began to panic.

Trying desperately to keep the tears from falling, the girl reminded herself what her big sister always told her, "big girls don't cry, huntress don't cry, don't be a baby," but it was for naught, and the young girl sunk to the ground with quiet hopeless sobs, her body shuddering slightly as her sorrow wracked her.

Luckily there was someone else in the park, that heard the girl, and felt the need to help her.

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The eight year old had been out all afternoon, simply looking for a place to relax, away from all of the noises at the orphanage, where she could read her book quietly, and luckily had come across a beautiful park, with tall trees worth climbing, and a pretty lake she could only imagine would be good to visit with friends and family.

That brought a cold pang to her heart, and she dropped the topic entirely, returning her attention to her book, or at least trying to. When her silence was interrupted again in a moment, this time not from her own thoughts, but a soft cry, akin to that of a child, and it made her heart clench in a different kind of way.

Tucking her book safely away into her bag, she jumped from the tree gracefully, and began to look around the park she had discovered, finally noticing a small girl, looking to be no more than six or seven, kneeling before a rose bush, with unshed tears in her eyes as she wept.

Feeling her teeth clench at the uncomfortable sight, She was prepared to simply turn away, and ignore the girl that dared to disturb her peace, but something held her back, and caused her to take a second look at the minor, noticing just how distraught she really was.

She weighed her options for a few moments, trying to decide if approaching the girl was the correct choice, or if it might just end up causing more trouble for her, but finally her honour won out, and with mind made up, began to cautiously approach the girl.

Clearing her throat to try and get the younger girl's attention, she made a nervous attempt at conversation, not sure where to start exactly, "Err, hello there, are you...okay?" She stuttered out.

A Pair of the brightest watery silver eyes turned to face the girl, and she felt her body freeze up at the sight of them, unable to understand everything in them with a single glance. She could tell there was so much more to this girl than what she showed on the outside, but that wasn't important now, as it seemed her question spurred the girl into conversation.

"I...My big sister took me out today to play, but when we were on our way home she walked off without me...a...and now I'm lost," The young girl explained slowly, stuttering as her eyes filled with tears again, a new round of crying preparing to begin.

"H-hey, it's okay, I'm sure if your...sister cares for you enough, she'll probably be looking for you," she attempted in an effort to console the girl, but it didn't seem to do much more than quell her tears for another few moments.

The small girl, which she noted had very pretty long red hair, looked up at her with those watery eyes again, but it seemed she wasn't going to cry anymore, which made her senior breathe a sigh of relief.

"Listen, err, how about I sit with you, until your sister comes to get you?" She offered slowly, not sure where these words were coming from, but eager to not see the girl cry anymore, as it was nearly heartbreaking.

"You would do that...for a complete stranger?" The small redhead asked in confusion, seemingly surprised by this, far more so than she would have imagined, but the older girl nodded in confirmation, and approached the younger, offering her a hand up and a small smile.

"How about we go sit on that bench there, and try our best to get those tears cleaned up?" The older girl asked, and received another nod. taking the younger redheads dainty hand into her own, she gently lead her over, and helped her up onto the bench, her smile growing as she watched this girl, who moments before she had seen acting like a kid, now trying to be "adult," and climb onto the bench herself, but finally gave up and accepted her new friends help.

Taking a seat beside the younger girl, she reached into her bag, and slowly retrieved her book, wondering if maybe simply sitting with the girl would be enough, but this quickly turned into curiosity, as those sparkling silver eyes locked onto the title, and she seemed completely engrossed in it.

"What's it about?" The question came from seemingly nowhere, and stunned the older girl into a momentary lapse of forgetfulness, "Err, what?"

"Your book, what's it about?" The girl repeated, and her elder offered a small smile, and began to explain to her.

"It's a story of a dark knight, hated by the kingdom and seen as a harbringer of death, who protects everyone despite the cruel words they offer him, dedicating his life to keeping them safe," She explained, and this only seemed to further intrigue the girl, who was now staring at her in wide-eyed amazement.

"Could you...could you read it to me?" She asked shyly, making the older girl smile down at her once more in understanding, loving a good story herself when she could.

"I suppose, but no interrupting me, okay?" She told the girl strictly, but received only a bright smile and a nod from the girl.

"My lips are sealed."

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She had only been reading to the girl for what felt like 20 minutes, when out of nowhere a tall lanky blonde came barrelling into the park, hair flying out behind her like a wave of fire, wild lilac eyes searching the park frantically for something.

Looking down, she noticed that her little audience had nodded off in the middle of her story, and gently closed the book with a soft clap, before standing up, and waving the other girl over as best she could.

Seeing those lilac eyes light up, the girl tore over at speeds she didn't entirely think were possibly, and was quickly standing before the bench the two girls had previously occupied.

"Okay, you have ten seconds to tell me why you aren't a threat to my baby sister, before I knock your block off," The blonde threatened, though she didn't feel like she was in any danger, and the girl was just being the protective elder sibling you would expect.

"I found her out here crying because her older sister ran off, and I offered to sit with her until she came back," The black-haired girl explained coolly, "Judging by your attitude, I would imagine that you are the wayward older sister then?"

The blonde seemed almost proud of being recognized, and stood a bit straighter, pointing a thumb at herself and grinning widely, "You bet, the names Yang Xiao Long, future huntress, and the best older sister of all time."

"Well then, perhaps you could explain why the "best sister of all time" managed to lose her little sister in a park, and didn't even notice she was gone for twenty minutes." The black-haired girl replied a bit hotly, thinking this girl was full of hot air.

"Hey, I'll have you know I spent the last twenty minutes just running around this city looking for her, worried sick!" Yang snapped back, and the black-haired girl noticed with mild amusement how her eyes began to change from lilac to fire red before her very eyes.

"Well in that case here, she fell asleep when I started to read to her, and I didn't want to disturb her," She explained, sliding her arms underneath the girls knees and back, and lifted her up bridal style.

"Now that's no way for me to carry her home," Yang stated, and with a raised eyebrow the book-loving girl returned the sleeping six year old to the bench, "If you'll help out, I'd prefer to get her up onto my back, much easier for all of us."

"You think you can carry her?" The black haired girl asked incredulously, she knew the girl looked somewhat strong, and very sure of herself, but to lift a girl that was only two years younger than her?

"Don't worry, Ruby here is light as a feather, though her diet would make you think otherwise," Yang said, waving her hand carelessly, before she moved over to the bench and kneeled down, in order to give the black-haired girl a chance to slide the redhead onto her older sisters back.

wrapping the six year old's hands around her neck, and holding onto her tight, Yang got back to her feet, the lanky young girl not even stumbling at the added weight added onto her back, and grinned at her companion in an "I told you so" gesture.

"Well, make sure you keep her safe, and make sure not to lose her again," The black haired girl lectured, before she turned and prepared to leave the two sisters to their walk home.

"Hey wait, you never gave us your name blackie!" Yang shouted, and the girl turned to look at her again.

Just then, Ruby's eyes slowly fluttered open, but her body still felt heavy, and she was far too comfortable to wake up completely, so she drifted off back to sleep almost immediately.

"My name is..." and the world went black for the redhead once again.


	2. Chapter 2

"This mission is suicide!" Weiss shouted once again as she beheaded another Beowolf, before turning on her heels and spinning the cylinder on her dust rapier, and freezing two more of the creatures that had been attempting to sneak up on her, "Professor Ozpin must have been mad when he thought a couple of first-year huntresses could do this mission!"

"Oh come on princess, we're doing fine!" Yang shouted over the incessant growls and threatening swipes from grimm-claws, vaulting herself over the shoulders of one of her attackers, and then using her shot gauntlets to both blow the confused creatures head off, and launch herself across the battle field in the direction she had last seen her partner.

The four members of Team RWBY had been sent out to this, supposedly abandoned dust strip mining site regarding sightings of a few Grimm in the area, and had been ordered by the owners to clean it out, for reasons unknown to them.

"Why are we even out here if this place is abandoned!" Weiss questioned, raising her voice to be heard over the battle sounds, blasting another of the large grimm away with a flourish of her beautiful and deadly weapon as it glowed an angry red.

"Because the clients were worried about losing money when they tried to sell this place off to some poor shmuck," Yang replied, though it sounded far away, and the teasing undertone made the white-haired girl bristle indignantly.

"Don't worry about their numbers, we're starting to thin them out," Blake stated, just loud enough for the rest of the team to hear, as she began to swing about her weapon, using the ribbon to guide her blade, and shred any grimm around her.

Ruby stood nearby, focused solely on the battle, but kept half an ear out for her team-mates, various dead grimm parts scattered about her. holding her scythe under one arm, the girl waited for the next wave of darkness to descend upon her, and just before the group of grimm attacked, she struck.

pulling the trigger on her high calibre sniper scythe, the girl used the momentum from the weapon to swing the blade in a wide arc, managing to catch all of the Grimm in the attack, and severing their torso's as she continued to swing the blade around, discarding the new dead bodies as she weaved the cumbersome weapon around until it was once again pointed at the ground, barely breaking a sweat from the amount of brute force needed for such a manoeuvre.

Yang grinned as she flew overhead her sister, flipping in midair to face the ground, before she began to make punching motions, and clenched her fists to pull the trigger inside of her gauntlets to released a flurry of explosives from her weapon down into the massive wave of angry Beowolves.

Landing amidst the piles of charred corpses the girl casually brushed her hair back with a flourish, before noticing the Beowolves that had surrounded her and grinned, "Oh hey, sorry, were those guys your friends?" She accentuated her point by kicking one of the dead Beowolves in the head, severing the appendage, and sending it flying into the wave, knocking down and out several more Beowolves.

Laughing at her own impromptu projectile and it's effectiveness, the blonde charged back into the pack of Beowolves with a battle cry, dedicating herself to getting more kills than the rest of her team-mates as a personal challenge.

The four girls continued the fight eagerly, as fewer beowolves appeared to replace the ones already conquered, until finally, it appeared that only one large group remained.

Unfortunately, the continuous and relentless assault by the Beowolves had begun to take it's toll on the four girls, as they were beginning to slow down, even crazy stamina freak Yang was starting to feel the strain on her muscles as she battered the Beowolves in CQC.

The prolonged fighting was showing it's greatest toll on the youngest member of the team, as Ruby, despite all of her training with such a large weapon such as her crescent rose, could still only go at it for so long before her swings, even with the added help of her recoil, took their toll on her arms.

Her swings had become sluggish, and she was being forced to use her whole body to make her weapon move, which threatened to throw the girl off her balance at any moment.

Overcompensating for a swing she had begun far too early to hit her target, the girl was finally thrown onto one foot, the other trying to balance both her oversized weapon, and the rest of her body, and desperately began to fight with her worn body to regain her footing.

several Grimm, seeing the weakness in one of the creatures that had slaughtered so many of their kind, took this chance to strike. Growling and drooling, three Beowolves pounced at the red-cloaked girl, intent on sinking their claws into soft pink flesh, and hearing that beautiful bloody scream as their prey fell to the ground, dead.

Yang, having finished off the last of her attackers, turned to face her sister, only for her face to freeze in shock as she saw the impending attack, and her mind began to move in slow motion. She knew she couldn't clear the distance between the two in time, even by using her shot gauntlets to augment her speed, and her body was too tired for her to react otherwise, so all she could really do was scream the girl's name, "RUBY!"

Weiss heard the noise and turned as well, and was shocked upon seeing their team-leader, and her partner, about to be rent in twain by the Beowolves, memories of their initiation flashing through her mind, and the girl bragging about how invulnerable she was. the white haired heiress laughed bitterly in her mind, as her body betrayed her, and she tried to dash for her partner's life, knowing that she wasn't fast enough, and there wasn't anything she could do, all of her dust expended from the prolonged fight.

Ruby's silver eyes widened as the attack came, knowing she had no chance to bring up crescent rose, even if she shifted it back into it's gun form, in time to even parry the attacks, and instead simply closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable strike, and cursing herself out for her own stupidity.

But instead of the sharp explosion of pain she expected to feel, The red-haired girl instead heard the unmistakable cut-off cry of Beowolves being beheaded, and dared to open her eyes slightly.

Standing in front of the girl was Blake, Gambol Shroud secured in it's sheath, and two dead Grimm laying on either side of the girl, a third one lying dead in front of her, an abandoned lead pipe thrust clear through it's skull in a decidedly brutal kill.

The black-haired girl looked over her shoulder at the shocked redhead, and then, with only a moment of hesitation, offered the redhead a small smile of respect.

Ruby smiled back, just moments before Yang jumped on her, tackling her younger sister to the ground and shouting angrily about her putting her life into danger again, and threatening the girl about having her removed from beacon for being such a pain, but they all knew she was simply teasing, and a bit emotional after her baby sister's near death experience.

Weiss approached the rest of her team with a good-natured groan of annoyance, and had her hand upon her forehead, trying to rub away the migraine she felt forming, "Perhaps next time you wish to give us all a heart attack Ruby Rose, you could have enough common sense not to," she seethed out, but everyone noticed the interwoven tones of amusement in the heiress' voice.

"I'll be sure not to Weiss, wouldn't want you to have to train a new partner, right?" Ruby teased right back, trying to brush off and repress the memories.

Yang laughed along with her sister when the heiress only groaned further in annoyance and began to storm off towards the drop point they had been briefed on their way here, with Ruby soon trailing after the girl.

Yang hung back for several moments, allowing the two girls to get ahead, before falling into step with Blake, who was all but shuffling along at the back of the team.

"So, you saved my baby sister's life," Yang commented, keeping her eyes focused on the redhead walking ahead of her as she tried to make conversation with the white-haired girl, who seemed more annoyed than out right angry at the girl, "again I might add."

Yang felt honoured when she got to see the normally composed, if sometimes a bit eccentric Black-haired girl do a double take at something she had said, "I what? again?"

Not letting it deter her, the blonde continued, "You know, I never did get to thank you for what you did, you kept Ruby safe while I wasn't there to watch her, and now, once again, you were there when I couldn't be," The blonde explained, sounding wistful, "You make a pretty good sister-in-law."

Blake's eyebrows noticeably rose at that comment, and it took her a moment to get her thoughts into order before she could find her voice to respond, "all i was doing was looking out for our team leader," She tried to argue, uncharacteristically, and Yang noticed the way the girl's yellow eyes chased after the red cloak that was growing further ahead of the pair, "Nothing else."

"Oh don't be like that," Yang said, patting the girl on the back, "You know, those two are probably never going to get together," The blonde seemed to say out of the blue, which made the black haired girl splutter, "I mean seriously, they squabble so much, I can only see those two as best friends."

"What does that have to do with anything!" Blake asked in a raised voice, which made one of yang's eyebrows rise, along with her grin.

"I'm not saying anything," Yang teased, winking at the girl, "I'm just thinking aloud, that I think a certain girl is just the kind of thing my baby sister needs to ground her a bit, and help her mature some more. And maybe," The blonde paused a moment, before beginning to wiggle her eyebrows suggestively, "Teach her a few things about being a woman."

Yang laughed at the open-mouthed shock and horror Blake exhibited at her thoughts, and charged ahead before the black-haired girl could regain herself to respond, or tell her off.

Grabbing both the white and red haired girls in a hug, Yang began to tease the two mercilessly, Ruby's face quickly growing red at the suggestive things she was probably hearing, and Weiss looking ready to shove the blonde away in annoyance.

Blake found her eyes once again lingering on the red haired girl, and her mind took a moment to capture every inch of her red cheeks and bright wide silver-eyes, before feeling a flutter in her chest, and hurrying to catch up with the rest of the team, who had gotten ahead of her.

Meanwhile, Yang's words created a cacophony of thoughts in her head, and memories of an adorable, innocent 6 year old sitting beside her as she read the girl a book mingled together with a 15-year old girl asking her, with a small smile on her face, about the book she had been reading, in an innocent attempt at getting to know her.

Blake fought to hide the small smile that threatened to evolve into a full-on Yang sized grin as more thoughts about the red-haired scythe wielder tumbled about in her mind, and her heart beat a little faster in her chest, as the airship passed overhead, that would take the four man cell on to their next adventure together.


End file.
